Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has directed the labour minister of the national capital Manish Sisodia to grant monthly financial assistance to each construction worker who has been affected because of paused construction activities.
“Construction activities have been stopped across Delhi in view of pollution. I have directed Labour Minister, Sh Manish Sisodia, to give Rs 5000 pm as financial support to each construction worker during this period, when construction activities are not permitted,” Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said in a tweet on Wednesday.
Previously, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR and adjoining areas on October 30 (Saturday) had imposed a ban on activities related to construction work in the wake of the deteriorating air quality of the National Capital Region.
The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) sub-committee had decided to implement Stage III of GRAP in the entire NCR in a move to prevent any further deterioration of air quality on Saturday.
The air quality in the national capital continued to remain in the ‘very poor’ category on Wednesday morning as the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of the city stood at 354.
Noida, which is a part of the national capital region, slipped to an AQI of 406, and remained in the ‘severe’ category, while Gurugram’s AQI stood at 346 and at the ‘very poor category, as per the data released by System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) India earlier this morning.
Air Quality Index from 0 to 100 is considered as good, while from 100 to 200 it is moderate, from 200 to 300 it is poor, and from 300 to 400 it is said to be very poor and from 400 too 500 or above it is considered as severe.
A little less poor air quality in Delhi’s satellite cities gave some respite to the people, but it is only a relative term from the previous day.
While comprehensively reviewing the overall air quality parameters during Saturday’s emergency meeting of CAQM, the Commission noted that due to unfavorable meteorological conditions with slower wind speed and sudden spike in farm fire incidents, it is considered necessary to implement Stage III of GRAP with immediate effect in the entire NCR.
The CAQM further noted that the winds are forecasted to be CALM in the coming days and the wind direction is likely to change course frequently. Thus, there is a high likelihood of the pollutants getting trapped in the region and not getting dispersed effectively.
Further, the CAQM appealed to the citizens of NCR to cooperate in implementing GRAP and follow the steps mentioned in the Citizen Charter under GARP. Apart from that, a 9-point action plan as per Stage III of GRAP was made applicable in the entire NCR.
The 9-point action plan includes steps to be implemented/ ensured by different agencies and Pollution Control Boards of NCR and DPCC, as per the official statement.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by HW News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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